


Leadtongue

by LoreWren



Category: Marvel (Movies), Thor (2011)
Genre: Family, Gen, norsekink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoreWren/pseuds/LoreWren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times words failed Loki, and one time he said nothing at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leadtongue

**1.**

Loki had learned he could lie.

Not that he could lie  _well_. The idea of lying well or poorly had not yet entered his thinking. Later, he would understand the benefits of looking a person in the eye when he lies, or smiling in just the right way while he speaks the truth, making the honest answer into a joke, an absurdity. For the moment, his intuition did most of the work.

Thor had believed him quite easily--he did  _not_  know Loki could lie--and Odin had believed the fledgling trickster after asking the question a few times more. Loki was never quite sure why people did that; he was hardly going to spontaneously tell the truth simply because someone asked twice. (In fact, he would occasionally lie out of annoyance.)

So when Frigga came into his room, Loki turned around with a disarmingly innocent smile, ready to answer whatever question his mother decided to ask.

"Loki." His smile faltered at her tone. "Did you cast a water spell on your brother during the feast?"

What had he been about to say? Something honest-sounding and simple. "...No." The hesitation earned him a capital-L Look. Loki gulped. "Maybe?"

***

Loki wrote--later, when he had a moment to himself-- _Lying is simpler, but riskier._  Mother had taken some of his  _books_.

 

 **2.**

Loki stared at the letter and the quill, as if looking long enough would bring something into being on the page. He had stopped throwing out pages with mistakes long ago; he went through too many simply trying to figure out how to say it.

As was oft the case, Thor had it easier. Maidens swooned over his looks, and his hammer and his poor attempts at double-entendre. He could do the same thing every time and no one much cared. Loki, on the other hand, was known as the lesser or, if he was lucky, the clever one. He had to prove himself, in some creative way, every time.

Loki had filled one side of the scratch page, half with things he had written before, half with garbage even Thor wouldn't say. Well. He would, but he would have the grace to look embarrassed afterward.

Sounds came from Thor's room next door and Loki crumpled the paper. Thor may have years on Loki, but his 'elder' brother still had that eagerness Loki had outgrown years ago. He'd get no words down tonight.

 

 **3.**

"Father, Thor is not ready to become king." Loki was not hiding anything, this time. He was a liar, and so knew the value of honesty in a way many honest men never think of, and knew better than to twist words around something so obviously dangerous as  _Thor_  becoming _king_.

Father shook his head. “Loki, this is Thor’s place.” (The rest of the speech, the part about a leader needing charisma and  _wise advisors_ , the part that is meant to soothe Loki’s pride and remind him of the tedious parts of the throne, passed Loki by.)

Loki could speak. It was nothing like when mother looks at him and his voice falters, or when he chokes on a piece of food. Loki explained, and explained well; he could convince anyone of a **lie** ;  _he should be able to do this—_

Odin finished. Loki nodded, already planning.

The most important thing in Loki’s life, one of the most important in the Nine Realms, no matter whose perspective, and the only one with the power to decide would not listen.

But then, Loki’s power had never lain with affecting things so directly.

Odin would not listen. Loki would show.

 

 **4.**

People would ask Loki how he felt, with his brother about to be coronated. Surely he must be excited, yet he still looked so  _pale_ \--was he feeling well? Loki knew he was no paler, but Thor had managed to burn brighter, and they were always compared. It was not a new enough insult to affect him, so Loki would merely craft a smile and shrug.

When Odin asked Loki to stay longer at some party, he said he felt ill—and so frail a thing he looked, next to golden Thor, Odin accepted it. Naturally, Loki would save his strength for the coronation; he did not want to be in the healing rooms when it came around.

Mother asked. Loki he wanted to tell her; he truly did, if only for the slim hope that she would listen when Father had not. But he had no way to explain that would not send her to Father, and nothing to voice in Father's presence.

"I am only ill, Mother." Loki said, for the trickster could think of no way to say what he wanted to. He dismissed the brief flash of inadequacy.

They’d see anything he could tell them, soon enough.

 

 **5.**

Loki had learned he could lie to himself. He was quite a good liar, by now.

It started, ‘This is what is best for Asgard.’ It was true: Thor on the throne would be a disaster. It was true: he had spoken with Father and Odin had not listened. But Loki had other things to try, things better for his home. He could have spoken with Frigga. Could have tried to make Thor see his own mistakes, given his brother the last chance.

The next lie was, ‘It will not work.’ Loki used it in place of, ‘It would not help me.’

Loki realized what he was doing, saw himself act in ways that did not align with his goals, and lied by omission: ‘I do not see it.’

Loki lied to himself enough that when the truth finally slipped out, the trickster couldn’t recognize it until he had already spoken.

“I only ever wanted to be your equal!”

Loki had meant the lie to slice through Thor, as it did. He had not meant to injure himself with the blow.

 

 **And.**

The plan hadn't worked. It had been a good one, thought well and acted well. But, as Loki well knew, every plan had the possibility of failure. One simply could not account for everything. He had decided, sometime far back in his youth, to account for that by being quick. Loki hung just on Gungnir, so he would choose to climb or to fall, as the new plan fit. He gave Father-- _Ah, but that's wrong, isn't it?_

He gave the All-Father a chance. Just a test, to see how welcome he could be. There had been some guilt, something Loki could manipulate, but with that directed bit that meant Loki was in for it. 'For his own good.' Loki wasn't particularly interested in this false-father's idea of his own good, any more than he'd been interested in his other false-father's life. 

Loki let go. False-brother and false-father both called out after him.

*

The trickster dropped into his own spell, then stepped onto Midgard in a sharp suit.

Loki smirked.

 


End file.
